Belmont Capital LLC Sells 86,520 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Belmont Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 90.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 86,520 shares during the period. Belmont Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.39.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $50.36 on Wednesday. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $50.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $373.02 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.00.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.41%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.